TheAuthenticBase
Assalaamu 'alaykum!
Abul A'laa Mawdoodee said:
"Ironically, our picture-makers (i.e, those who say Islam was spread by force via numerous bloodshed battles) are our old well wishers who have themselves been involved in a unholy war for the past many centuries against the poor an the wretched of the earth. History reveals a very ungainly picture of Westerners: equipped with all kinds of deadly weapons, they have thrown themselves on the people of the world establishing markets for their goods, searching for raw material resources, looking for lands to colonize, and minerals to exploit o that thy can fuel their never-ending lust for other people's wealth.
Their war is not for God but for greed to satisfy the demands of their baser selves, For them, it is enough of a reason for their blood-letting pursuits if others have resources to enrich them. Worse, they have annexed other people's lands where they have settled their surplus manpower. Some people even qualified themselves for such punitive action if their geographical areas provided access to a territory that they wanted to overpower.
What we, Muslims, have done is now history while the West's accomplishments are part of the contemporary scene witnessed by humanity every day. Asia, Africa, Europe America - which part of the world is left unsoiled with the blood of the innocents owing to the West's unholy war? Horrible as it is, it redounds to their painting skills that thy have brushed us in such exaggerated colours. Ghastly as it may be, they have succeeded in concealing their own ugly face behind ours. And so great is our naivety, that when we see our portrait thus made we are so terrified that we forget to see the faces of the painters behind it.
Worse, we become apologetic, pleading, "Your excellencies, we do not have anything to do with war; we are as peaceful a missionary as the Buddhists and the priests are. All we do is to refute a few beliefs and replace them with some others. Weapons are not our business. We do, however, admit that occasionally when someone comes to bear us we counter him against our will. But now we have discarded even our right to self-defence. To please your Excellencies we have officially proscribed weapon-wielding jihaad. Now jihaad is an effort waged with our mouths and pens. To fight with weapons is your prerogative."
[A quote from his paper which was originally a speech given in Lahoor in 1939]
"Ironically, our picture-makers (i.e, those who say Islam was spread by force via numerous bloodshed battles) are our old well wishers who have themselves been involved in a unholy war for the past many centuries against the poor an the wretched of the earth. History reveals a very ungainly picture of Westerners: equipped with all kinds of deadly weapons, they have thrown themselves on the people of the world establishing markets for their goods, searching for raw material resources, looking for lands to colonize, and minerals to exploit o that thy can fuel their never-ending lust for other people's wealth.
Their war is not for God but for greed to satisfy the demands of their baser selves, For them, it is enough of a reason for their blood-letting pursuits if others have resources to enrich them. Worse, they have annexed other people's lands where they have settled their surplus manpower. Some people even qualified themselves for such punitive action if their geographical areas provided access to a territory that they wanted to overpower.
What we, Muslims, have done is now history while the West's accomplishments are part of the contemporary scene witnessed by humanity every day. Asia, Africa, Europe America - which part of the world is left unsoiled with the blood of the innocents owing to the West's unholy war? Horrible as it is, it redounds to their painting skills that thy have brushed us in such exaggerated colours. Ghastly as it may be, they have succeeded in concealing their own ugly face behind ours. And so great is our naivety, that when we see our portrait thus made we are so terrified that we forget to see the faces of the painters behind it.
Worse, we become apologetic, pleading, "Your excellencies, we do not have anything to do with war; we are as peaceful a missionary as the Buddhists and the priests are. All we do is to refute a few beliefs and replace them with some others. Weapons are not our business. We do, however, admit that occasionally when someone comes to bear us we counter him against our will. But now we have discarded even our right to self-defence. To please your Excellencies we have officially proscribed weapon-wielding jihaad. Now jihaad is an effort waged with our mouths and pens. To fight with weapons is your prerogative."
[A quote from his paper which was originally a speech given in Lahoor in 1939]
